Principal secretary, food and civil supplies department, Shishir Kumar Sinha and (right) development commissioner Ashok Kumar Sinha in Patna on Saturday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Dec. 10: State government officials engaged in paddy procurement work would be able to take leaves only after April 30 next year.

This directive came today from development commissioner Ashok Kumar Sinha who announced that election-like urgency would be shown towards early procurement of paddy. The government has set April 30 next year as deadline for procurement of 30 lakh metric tonne of paddy, the officer informed.

“The district magistrates will be responsible for the procurement process. They will have to ensure that things are carried out in a smooth way and see to it that the procurement starts in all districts within a week,” Sinha said.

With the beginning of the cutting season of paddy, the Bihar government has taken a string of decisions to speed up the procurement of the crop.

Stressing that middlemen will not be entertained in the procurement process, Sinha said Rs 800 crore would be paid to the farmers for their crops.

“This year we expect around 80 lakh tonnes of paddy crop from the state. The state government will procure 30 lakh tonnes of paddy. Around 6,000 collection centres are being opened in different districts. Of them, Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society (Pacs) will have 4,769 centres, Bihar State Food Corporation (BSFC) will have 1,068 centres and Food Corporation of India (FCI) will have 80 collection centres,” Sinha said. Of the total procured paddy, FCI, BSFC and Pacs would obtain 5 lakh tonnes, 7 lakh tonnes and 18 lakh tonnes of the crop respectively, he said. Farmers having queries can contact the control room in Patna at 0612-2210902 and the BSFC Patna office on 0612-2506894.

“So far, the state government has procured total 35,000 quintals of paddy. The FCI has agreed to open more collection centres to ensure that the procurement process is smooth. Till now, 87 collection centres of the FCI and 331 centres of the BSFC have been opened and more of them are scheduled to open soon,” Sinha added. The officer said the farmers would receive payment for their crop immediately unlike the system followed in the previous years.

“Earlier, farmers had to wait a month or two for their payment in return for crops. But the state government will hand over account payee cheques after farmers bring paddy to the collection centres. The state government will not procure any paddy from middlemen or shopkeepers under any condition. Each collection centre will have seven to eight men apart from security personnel,” the official said.

Sinha said in Nalanda district, there has been a cultivation of 224 quintals of paddy per hectare, a world record.

“The state has written to the Centre about the feat, requesting it to identify it as a world record. The farming was done with the Sri Vidhi technique,” Sinha said.